Now in its fourth year, Massachusetts General Hospital’s Youth Neurology Education and Research Program, funded by the Biogen Foundation, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association, is a paid summer internship program that offers students from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to learn about the field of neurology, build a strong professional network, gain valuable work experience, and identify career paths in health care that they are interested in pursuing.
“This program is so vital because it allows us to attract young people from all walks of life and support them as they become future leaders in the field of neurology. This is one way we can help accelerate scientific discoveries and ensure that clinicians are just as diverse as the communities we serve,” says Nicte Mejia, MD, MPH, FAAN, Director of Mass General Neurology Community Health, Diversity and Inclusion who created the Youth Neurology Education and Research Program in 2020.
Building a Strong Foundation
Aya ElHassan first participated in the Youth Neurology Education and Research Program in 2021, when she worked in Mass General’s NeuroValue Lab as a summer intern studying gender disparities in epilepsy patient care under the mentorship of Lidia Moura, MD, MPH, PhD and Maria Andrea Donahue, MD. Aya excelled and was invited back to participate in the program as an intern in Dr. Moura’s lab in 2022, following her graduation from Wellesley College. Soon after, she was hired to become a full-time member of the NeuroValue Lab.
“Even as an intern, I felt comfortable volunteering to work on projects I was interested in, and my mentors were always more than open to letting me try new things.”
In 2023, Aya was peer mentor to Youth Neurology Program interns Sarisha Ray, sophomore at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Jenessa Otabor, freshman at Howard University, who were also working in the NeuroValue Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Moura. “They were both such hard workers,” Aya says. “I learned so much acting as their peer mentor and I felt so proud to see everything they accomplished by the end of the summer.”
Today, Aya is continuing her work in Dr. Moura’s lab as a full-time Clinical Research Coordinator. For Aya, the Youth Neurology Program summer internship led her to pursue a career at the intersection of neurology and public health, helping her secure full-time employment at Mass General — she loves her job and has already been promoted to Clinical Research Coordinator II at the Center for Value Based Health Care and Sciences.
“Even as an intern, I felt comfortable volunteering to work on projects I was interested in, and my mentors were always more than open to letting me try new things,” Aya says. “Participating in this program as both a student and a peer mentor, gaining exposure to so many different areas of research and clinical care, has helped me determine that I want to pursue a career in health care quality improvement.”
Discerning Career Paths
For Youth Neurology Program interns Jenessa and Sarisha, participating in the program with Dr. Moura as their mentor and Aya as their peer mentor meant gaining exposure to a wide variety of career paths, ranging from qualitative research to neurology clinical care to even neurosurgery.
The program helped Jenessa discover that she wanted to pursue more complex research and contribute to ameliorating health disparities, leading her to change her college major to chemical engineering. Jenessa recalls the impact of being able to attend lectures at Mass General and Harvard Medical School and to learn of the many different paths she could take to pursue a career in researching health disparities. “I’m interested in understanding the mechanics behind why certain diseases disproportionately affect minority groups, in understanding what’s happening in the body,” she says.
Jenessa explains the impact of listening to researchers of diverse backgrounds discussing their work, and especially other Black female scientists. “I really believe that if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room,” Jenessa says. “So, while I wasn’t able to understand everything speakers discussed, it was amazing exposure to all of the possibilities in front of me.”
A Vision for the Future
Through her internship, Sarisha found herself drawn to the role of practicing clinician, something she hadn’t previously thought she wanted to do.
“Watching Dr. Moura, a fellow woman of color, interact with patients of different backgrounds, dealing with different diagnoses, and treating them all with so much respect and compassion was beyond inspiring, and confirmed for me that this is what I want to do.”
Sarisha says shadowing Dr. Moura at her clinic was the moment she knew she wanted to pursue a career as a clinician. “I didn’t expect to have an ‘aha moment,” Sarisha explains, “but watching Dr. Moura, a fellow woman of color, interact with patients of different backgrounds, dealing with different diagnoses, and treating them all with so much respect and compassion was beyond inspiring, and confirmed for me that this is what I want to do.”
Sarisha recalls a particularly impactful moment when Dr. Moura had to deliver the news of an epilepsy diagnosis to a young patient, whose mother began to cry — not because of the news of her child’s diagnosis, she said, but because she was overwhelmed by Dr. Moura’s kindness.
For Aya, Jenessa and Sarisha, participating in Mass General’s Youth Neurology Education and Research Program made a deep impact on their paths forward — helping confirm their passions while strengthening their skills and building their networks for success.
To learn more about how you can support the Youth Neurology Education and Research Program, please contact us.
